I'm a total newbie pipe smoker also. A few years back I just had to get a pipe just to look sherlock, so I started to search for one. I ended up getting this:
Cost me like 24 euros. I think it's really good and think that you shouldn't put much more than $30-$50 to buying a pipe.
I've only smoked 2 blends of tobacco, the other was something called sherlock holmes. I really enjoed puffing that stuff. Now that I've ran out of pipe tobacco I really want something special. I have no clue what to pick, I only smoke like once a week or so.
All of my friends think that smoking a pipe is cool but many unknown people who see a 18-year-old smoking a pipe obviously think he's a crackhead [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]